This invention relates to material-handling apparatus, and more particularly to material-handling apparatus which includes an elongate, articulated conveyor system supported on a mobile vehicle frame, with the conveyor system being collapsible to accommodate road transport of the apparatus.
The particular apparatus described herein takes the form of a mobile screener usable, for instance, in the screening of the crushed output of a rock crusher to separate the output into piles of differently sized material. While the apparatus described herein is a mobile screener, it is appreciated that, with respect to certain features of the invention, such may have applicability in other uses, such as in the movement of dirt or other bulk material where a conveyor is employed for the movement.
The portable screener disclosed herein typically may take the form of a relatively rugged piece of equipment, which is designed to be moved over the road from one place to another to provide screening capability at the particular location of the crusher and the rock which is to be crushed. A feature of the screener is that such includes an elongate conveyor system suitably supported on an elongate wheel-supported vehicle frame, with this conveyor system relatively easily adjusted between a collapsed, folded-up state, which adapts the equipment for road transport, and an extended state, which adapts the conveyor system for the conveying of material along an elongate conveyor path. In making this adjustment, there is no need, as typifies some prior art constructions, for having hoists or auxiliary equipment at the site where the screener is to be set up for operation. Adjustments are made through operation of power-operated devices, such as fluid-operated rams or motors, which swing sections in the conveyor system to appropriate positions, with such sections interconnected and moving in defined paths.
A general object of this invention, therefore, is to provide a new and improved material-handling apparatus which is adapted for transport over the road, and which includes an elongate conveyor system suitably supported on an elongate vehicle frame, the conveyor system being shiftable from a collapsed state on the vehicle frame, which adapts the apparatus for road transport, and an extended state, which adapts the apparatus to perform the work operation desired.
A more specific object is to provide such apparatus which includes a linkage structure supporting the conveyor system on the vehicle frame, which guides portions of this conveyor system in defined paths, with the conveyor system shifting from a collapsed to an extended state.
Another object is to provide such a material-handling apparatus which includes multiple conveyor frame sections supporting a conveyor belt in the conveyor system, these frame sections being hingedly interconnected, and remaining interconnected, whether the conveyor system be in its collapsed or extended state. The conveyor frame sections are supported through links on the vehicle frame, so that the frame sections move in defined paths with respect to each other with shifting of the conveyor system from a folded, collapsed state to an extended state.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the material-handling apparatus comprises a screener, and the conveyor system, when extended, extends in an elongate, inclined path from a location adjacent the rear of the vehicle frame to a location disposed in advance of the opposite end of the vehicle frame. A hopper, for collecting and distributing material on this conveyor system, occupies the position directly adjacent the rear of the vehicle frame. A screen assembly, hingedly connected to the upper end of the conveyor system when extended, inclines downwardly from its hinged connection to provide for gravity screening of material flowing thereover. The incline of this screen assembly is adjustable through operation of a power-operated means, such as a fluid-operated ram, and the screen assembly, in any given adjusted position, is supported through struts extending from the frame of the screen assembly back to the vehicle frame.